Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to burners for use in water heaters and boilers, and more particularly to a flow distribution member used with such burners for providing an improved pressure distribution of fuel and air mixture throughout the burner.
Description of the Prior Art
One well known architecture for water heaters and boilers is that utilized in the series of water heaters produced by Lochinvar LLC, the assignee of the present invention, as its POWER-FIN® water heaters and boilers. The general construction of such water heaters may be similar to that disclosed for example in U.S. Pat. No. 4,793,800 to Vallett et al. or that in U.S. Pat. No. 6,694,926 to Baese et al.
Such water heaters utilize a generally cylindrical burner concentrically received within a circular array of fin tubes.
Water heaters of this type use a premix blower to supply air and gas mixture to the cylindrical burner. One issue which is encountered in designing in such a water heater is the desire to provide a balanced uniform flow of fuel and air mixture throughout the burner, and particularly to avoid any negative pressure zones in the burner which could cause flashback into the burner.